Dame - the new scapegoat

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People aren't bashing him. They are calling him out on his bad shot selection....because that's what it is, BAD. Pull up threes with 20 seconds on the shot clock are not good shots. Stepback threes with a man in your face are not good shots. I don't care if you're Stephen Curry or Ray Allen, these types of shots should be kept at a minimum and Dame has been shooting handfuls of these shots so far in pre-season and last night. I get that this is "his" shot, but he should be smart enough to realize that even if enough of these shots go in, he's shutting his teammates out on each of these possessions.

Hero ball threes are fun when they go in, but not conducive to winning. Dame is being paid like a mega star and he's going to have the carry the burden that comes with it. No one is saying he's a bad player (well almost no one). No one wants to trade him. People are simply pointing out things that could make him better.
 
I completely disagree with MAGS! I believe the best player on the team, deserves NO criticism. They carry the team on their shoulders and are under ALL the pressure! The scapegoats should be the guys making MILLIONS of dollars and STILL not helping us win!
 
HCP said:
I completely disagree with MAGS! I believe the best player on the team, deserves NO criticism. They carry the team on their shoulders and are under ALL the pressure! The scapegoats should be the guys making MILLIONS of dollars and STILL not helping us win!
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Given that the Blazers have such a low payroll (by NBA standards) isn't that kind of like yelling at the dishwasher when Gordon Ramsey burns his souffle?
 
Strenuus said:
3 more would have happened if those players (meyers) had made the shots. So, that's Dames fault?
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5 of Lillard's assists were to Leonard. 2 were to McCollum. So Lillard's assist total was inflated by those 2 players, not deflated.
 
HCP said:
I completely disagree with MAGS! I believe the best player on the team, deserves NO criticism. They carry the team on their shoulders and are under ALL the pressure! The scapegoats should be the guys making MILLIONS of dollars and STILL not helping us win!
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I agree with you. I am saying of course they will because they do all the time. Look around the league throughout history. The players that take the most heat for wins and losses are the best player on the team. Melo gets tons of heat in New York. Kobe got it when he was the best on the Lakers. The list goes on.
 
HCP said:
I completely disagree with MAGS! I believe the best player on the team, deserves NO criticism. They carry the team on their shoulders and are under ALL the pressure! The scapegoats should be the guys making MILLIONS of dollars and STILL not helping us win!
Click to expand...
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. They're under the most pressure, so they should be immune from criticism? Really? That's idiotic. Let's carry this idea forward:
  • The US president is under the most pressure of any politician, so he shouldn't be criticized for military gaffes or economic failures;
  • A CEO of a corporation is under the most pressure of any employee, so they shouldn't be held accountable for financial losses;
  • Or if you insist on sports examples: the quarterback has the most pressure of any player on a football team, so he should never be criticized for poor play;
  • A pitcher has the ball in his hand all game long--tons of pressure!!--so they should never be criticized.
Any player, any position, any person is subject to criticism if they fall short of reasonable expectations, or perform in a way that is insufficient to accomplish the goal with which they have been tasked. Dame is no different. If the pressure upon him causes him to make poor choices that end up detrimental to the team, he will be criticized, and rightly so. And knowing him, he will take that criticism and turn it into something that will make him better.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. They're under the most pressure, so they should be immune from criticism? Really? That's idiotic. Let's carry this idea forward:
  • The US president is under the most pressure of any politician, so he shouldn't be criticized for military gaffes or economic failures;
  • A CEO of a corporation is under the most pressure of any employee, so they shouldn't be held accountable for financial losses;
  • Or if you insist on sports examples: the quarterback has the most pressure of any player on a football team, so he should never be criticized for poor play;
  • A pitcher has the ball in his hand all game long--tons of pressure!!--so they should never be criticized.
Any player, any position, any person is subject to criticism if they fall short of reasonable expectations, or perform in a way that is insufficient to accomplish the goal with which they have been tasked. Dame is no different. If the pressure upon him causes him to make poor choices that end up detrimental to the team, he will be criticized, and rightly so. And knowing him, he will take that criticism and turn it into something that will make him better.
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I agree with your assessment, and bolded the part that seems to be the most subjective. Reasonable expectations is highly subjective, in that there are common goals, but the nuances, semantics are the ones most argued about ("He's got a good overall game, keeps upgrading his game, helps us win, but his 3 pt shot sucks! He's the worst! What a bum! Can't he do everything?")

Dame is meeting these reasonable expectations. However, people -expect- him to be great at everything because he is Dame. Which, to me, sounds crazy. I'm not going to buy a car that's shiny and new and bitch about how the air freshner isn't the old school tree scent.
 
Remember when we were all pleased with winning 30 games as long as the team tried hard? One win and folks are talking margin of error like we should be winning 45.
 
BlazerCaravan said:
Remember when we were all pleased with winning 30 games as long as the team tried hard? One win and folks are talking margin of error like we should be winning 45.
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The competitveness of sports exponentially increased with the inclusion of social media and other instantaneous outlets for fans.
 
oldmangrouch said:
Given that the Blazers have such a low payroll (by NBA standards) isn't that kind of like yelling at the dishwasher when Gordon Ramsey burns his souffle?
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thank you, thats very funny to me this morning!
 
Lillard's presence on the floor helps all the other players. CJ probably gets the second best defensive guard on him making it easier to get good shots off.

I like to look at points/FGA as an indication of offensive efficiency.

Lillard got 21 points on 21 shots, which is perfectly fine. His opponent, Holiday, got 12 points on 14 shots.

As a team, we got 112 points on just 88 FGA, which is downright awesome. New Orleans got 94 points on 91 FGA. That's how we won.

Lillard is just fine. He has to shoot a lot to bring what he is to the team. I'm down with that plan.
 
The insert quote button doesn't seem to be working for me. all it does is have a three bar thing in the top right, acting as though its thinking and never adds the quote.

Trying to quote Denny to say it was a great post with a great perspective.

Ive let this sit open for over 5 minutes and the quote still hasn't appeared, fyi.

Edited, so Denny isnt saying tits....
 
Last edited:
BlazerCaravan said:
Remember when we were all pleased with winning 30 games as long as the team tried hard? One win and folks are talking margin of error like we should be winning 45.
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You can be developing winning habits even when you're losing. Just because they're not going to win a bunch of games, doesn't mean we shouldn't have some sort of expectations for their play.
 
Orion Bailey said:
The insert quote button doesn't seem to be working for me. all it does is have a three bar thing in the top right, acting as though its thinking and never adds the quote.

Trying to quote Denny to say tit was a great post with a great perspective.

Ive let this sit open for over 5 minutes and the quote still hasn't appeared, fyi.
Click to expand...
Tap or click the red Reply link just below my post to quote me.

Click +Quote on several posts to quote them all, and the insert quotes but will work for those.
 
Denny Crane said:
Tap or click the red Reply link just below my post to quote me.

Click +Quote on several posts to quote them all, and the insert quotes but will work for those.
Click to expand...

Thanks Denny. I was doing multiple quotes at work and for some reason when I clicked on insert quotes, I would just get a processing, or thinking, 3 bar thing in my top right corner. did that for over ten minutes. All seems good now though.... especially since I am home and about to watch another Blazers win! :)
 
Denny Crane said:
Lillard's presence on the floor helps all the other players. CJ probably gets the second best defensive guard on him making it easier to get good shots off.

I like to look at points/FGA as an indication of offensive efficiency.

Lillard got 21 points on 21 shots, which is perfectly fine. His opponent, Holiday, got 12 points on 14 shots.

As a team, we got 112 points on just 88 FGA, which is downright awesome. New Orleans got 94 points on 91 FGA. That's how we won.

Lillard is just fine. He has to shoot a lot to bring what he is to the team. I'm down with that plan.
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In general, I agree with this, however I think Dame could stand to take some better shots at times. Some of his shots the other night were terrible and looked like the kind of shots I'd expect from Kobe or Westbrick. I don't want Dame to be like them.
 
LuckyShot said:
In general, I agree with this, however I think Dame could stand to take some better shots at times. Some of his shots the other night were terrible and looked like the kind of shots I'd expect from Kobe or Westbrick. I don't want Dame to be like them.
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I would agree with this but to an extent. Kobe in his prime was lights out like MJ and Id want him shooting every time if possible. Westbrick, I thinks its his choice. He has the strength speed and agility to get to the hoop every single time, or have a wide open shooter to dish two, but instead he chucks.
 
Orion Bailey said:
The insert quote button doesn't seem to be working for me. all it does is have a three bar thing in the top right, acting as though its thinking and never adds the quote.

Trying to quote Denny to say tit was a great post with a great perspective.

Ive let this sit open for over 5 minutes and the quote still hasn't appeared, fyi.
Click to expand...

You're old enough now. You can say tit yourself.
 
HCP said:
Whatever...... we have one player who could start for other teams was my point.
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Your statement on its face is simply wrong. Plumlee started and played well on the nets. I guarantee we could go through most NBA lineups and find a starting position at center for him. So again, you are wrong.
 
Where would you rank Plumlee amongst centers?
 
HCP said:
Where would you rank Plumlee amongst centers?
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HCP, I would rank him as average, but with upside to be better than average. ALL star? no. more than likely not. With that said, he fits the mold of the NBA trend more. He is athletic and can run, dude ran point a few times... WELL! He would start on half the teams in the league because the league isnt swelling with a ton of talent at the center position like in years past.

Amino is proving he is a very capable starter and so has CJ.
Im willing to bet there are more than a few teams who are seeing Amino and wishing they would have offered him a contract like we did.
 
Lillard is off to a rough start, Lillards turnover rate after 3 games, small sampling size I know, is at 5.4 per game, last yr he avg'd 2.7. Yes his assists are up to over 8 but he is just making some lazy passes and dribbling errors that are not attributable to new team mates, he need to clean things up. and that includes not taking so extra long 3 pointers. I love the guy and I am sure he realizes this, but he needs to start cleaning it up and not forcing those long 3's.
 
I'm concerned with his energy level on defense. It seemed to be quite high in exhibition season and first game, but really not so much since. Defense is mostly energy and focus and he doesn't seem to have it. Is he playing too many minutes already? Is he eating right? Or is it too much mentally, thinking he has to carry the team?
 
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